If Christian Bale never said anything untoward, then we wouldn't have the pleasure of hearing him so charmingly explain himself!

At last night's premiere of Exodus: Gods and Kings at the Brooklyn Museum, the star explained to E! News on the red carpet that he certainly meant no disrespect to George Clooney when he advised his fellow actor—while talking about him during an interview with WSJ Magazine—to "stop whining" about the ever-present paparazzi.

Apparently even Bale was left wondering what Bale was thinking.

"I was scratching my head when I heard that," the bearded thesp admitted, referring to the headlines he unwittingly made.

"I said, ‘When on earth would I had said that?'" Bale, who along with wife Sibi Blazic was wearing Dolce & Gabbana for the occasion, recalled.

"I've got immense respect for him," he insisted, "and I can't even begin to imagine the invasion of his privacy. Our lives don't even begin to compare. He's a true movie star. I'm just somebody who was lucky to get a job."

And in case you thought that Bale—who like Clooney has won an Oscar and played Batman—couldn't get any more humble, he even sympathized with the magazine for perhaps taking the quotes out of context.

"So, yeah, it was possibly just a well-intentioned edit," he continued. "But certainly, I never meant any disrespect whatsoever."

And we believe him! Clooney, also a classy type, never issued any comment in response to Bale's perceived jab.